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Ottawa extends Canada’s military mission in Ukraine for 2 more years

Mission in Ukraine is designed to help counter Russian aggression, a move that could spark reprisals by Moscow aimed at Canadian democracy, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland says.

The federal government is extending Canada's military training mission in Ukraine by two years, saying assistance is crucial to ensuring stability in the region. Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan says Canada stands by Ukraine.

OTTAWA—Canada is extending its military mission in Ukraine to help counter Russian aggression, a move that could spark reprisals by Moscow aimed at Canadian democracy, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland says.

Freeland made the comment Monday as the federal government confirmed its intention to keep Canadian troops in Ukraine for another two years to help improve the skills of local forces.

Freeland herself has been a target with online articles that claim that her grandfather was a Nazi propagandist. Asked Monday whether she thought Russia was behind the articles, the minister didn’t comment.

But she noted that Western nations such as the U.S. and Germany have already accused Russia of attempting to upset their democracies.

“I think that it is also public knowledge that there have been efforts, as U.S. intelligence forces have said, by Russia to destabilize the U.S. political system. I think that Canadians, and indeed other western countries, should be prepared for similar efforts to be directed at us,” she told reporters.

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“I am confident in our country’s democracy, and I am confident that we can stand up to and see through those efforts.”

Canadian and Ukrainian servicemen at the opening ceremony of a joint military exercises in Lviv, Ukraine, in September 2015. National Defence says 3,200 Ukrainian troops have been trained by the Canadians since. (Pavlo Palamarchuk / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Freeland is barred from visiting Russia as a result of a retaliatory measure imposed by President Vladimir Putin in response to Western sanctions.

Alex Lawrence, a spokesperson for Freeland, said people should be wary about the claims about her maternal grandfather.

“People should be questioning where this information comes from, and the motivations behind it,” he said in an email.

Freeland was joined by Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan for Monday’s announcement that the ongoing, non-combat mission by 200 Canadian soldiers to train Ukrainian troops would be extended to March, 2019.

The mission, known as Operation Unifier, was launched in 2015 in the wake of Russia’s annexation of Crimea and its backing of rebels blamed for violence in eastern parts of the country.

Combined with Canada’s other ongoing military operations in the region, Sajjan said that Canada is “sending a very strong message of deterrence.”

“Russia’s actions are not going to be tolerated,” he said.

Asked whether the renewed mission risked making Canada a target, Sajjan pointed the finger at Moscow.

“It is Russia’s actions that has caused us to do this — Crimea, Ukraine and some of the other actions that they have taken . . . . It is their action(s) that are making us respond in this manner,” Sajjan said.

Andriy Shevchenko, Ukraine’s ambassador to Canada, praised Ottawa’s decision to recommit to the mission, even though there no was pledge of weapons as sought by his country to help in the fight against Russian-backed rebels.

“It’s a very powerful message of global leadership in dealing with global threats,” he said.

“Every day when your men and women train our officers and soldiers, it means saved lives.”

Shevchenko said Canada and other western nations were already in the crosshairs of Russia, even before Monday’s announcement.

“Canada never stops being a target for the Russian information aggression,” he said.

“I think it’s time for us to understand that Russia is waging a war against the free world in many different ways, when it undermines the political systems or the political leaders, when it interferes with the elections, when it wages information campaigns against Western leaders.”

Still, he said Canadian society is “strong enough to defend against that kind of information attacks.”

In the U.S., intelligence experts have said Russia hacked Democrat emails. President Donald Trump’s new administration has faced criticism for their contacts with Russian officials — U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has recused himself from federal investigations related to the 2016 election campaign, and National Security Adviser Michael Flynn quit his post altogether.

A spokesperson for the Russian embassy in Ottawa said the decision to extend the military mission was “counterproductive” and did not encourage dialogue under the Minsk accord meant to end conflict in the Donbass region in eastern Ukraine.

“Canada should exert pressure on the authorities in Kyiv to implement their obligations under the Minsk accords and concentrate on reaching a peaceful solution instead of pursuing military ventures,” Kirill Kalinin said in an email.

It’s the second time in recent weeks that a senior official has warned that Canada’s military efforts in Eastern Europe will spark the wrath of the Russians.

Gen. Jonathan Vance, the chief of defence staff, said last month that the military is preparing to be the target of Russian misinformation campaigns as a result of the deployment of 450 soldiers to Latvia.

“I think Russia will certainly see this as something to interfere with so we will take all the precautions we can,” Vance said.

“There will be a desire to skew way out of proportion and potentially provide falsehoods about what is actually happening in Latvia with Canadian troops,” he said.

The personnel will be part of a larger NATO operation meant to reassure Eastern European countries unsettled by Russian moves in Crimea.

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